Kissin' Cousins
by WriterInTheRound
Summary: Bella Swan is the newest member to the Denali clan. When the Cullen family pays a visit, Edward falls hard – but can he tame Bella’s succubus ways? Canon pairings. Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers, Supra-Genius, is the owner.
1. Chapter 1

Kissin' Cousins

Bella Swan is the newest member to the Denali clan. When the Cullen family pays a visit, Edward falls hard – but can he tame Bella's succubus ways? Canon pairings.

PART 1

Becoming Vampire

Chapter 1

Seventeen year-old Bella Swan just wanted to stay home with her mother during her first few weeks of summer vacation. Mid-May is one of the best times (weather-wise) to live in Phoenix. The days aren't nearly as warm as June, July or August. And the nights are usually cool enough to sleep with the windows open. May usually holds the last days before the hot, hot months to come. It is usually the time when the 'snowbirds' fly back to their homes in the Midwest or Northeast to beat the heat of a full-blown Phoenix summer.

But Bella's mother had other ideas. "You need time to bond with your father," was Renee's constant mantra. Bella couldn't dispute this. Since she was a baby, she'd only seen her father two weeks each year. And, those two weeks were always filled with fishing. Bella had tried to win her father's love and acceptance by telling him she actually liked to fish. Since that admission when she was a little girl, fishing was all her father had ever planned for her visits.

Bella enjoyed visiting Charlie in his hometown of Forks, Washington. Everything was so green and different from the desert steppe that was Phoenix. She even enjoyed the rain (except while she was out fishing.) The fresh smell, the patter on the roof and the overcast sky created a romantic mood in her mind. These were the days to stay in bed with a good book and a roaring fire. All that was missing was someone to snuggle up to...

Once Bella became a teenager, Charlie decided she needed better fishing venues than Forks. One year they went to Colorado to fly fish. When she visited in winter, they went to Minnesota and ice fished in rickety little (and very cold) shacks. This coming trip, however, made Charlie giddy. He was going to take Bella to Alaska to fish spawning salmon. This was something that he had wanted to do ever since fishing became his most serious hobby. Bella didn't know any of Charlie's life ambitions, but for as long as she could remember she knew that he dreamed of fishing salmon in Alaska. So, she wasn't surprised when Charlie planned this trip, it was just that she had hoped that she wouldn't be involved. No such luck…

Charlie sent his only child all the literature the tour company had given him. They would take a float plane from to a remote Alaskan wilderness. The plane would land on a lake. From there, Charlie and Bella would take a small boat to their log cabin - home for ten glorious days of 'fish-filled excitement." She scoffed at that description in the pamphlet. The cabin held a stock of food, a GPS navigating system, and a short-wave radio - no electricity, no running water, not even an indoor bathroom! "Oh," Bella thought, "this is the worst yet…"

While she was busy pondering a last-ditch effort to extricate herself from the situation, Charlie called. "So, tomorrow you'll be up here and then we'll be on our way to a fishing paradise!" Bella noticed the excitement in his voice – something she rarely heard. Right then, she gave in. She would make Charlie happy one more year – what was two weeks, anyways? She could do just about anything for two weeks.

Bella had packed a suitcase, and then nestled it inside of another, bigger suitcase. Because she lived in the "Valley of the Sun', she didn't own too many articles of the heavy-weight clothing that she would need in Alaska. She would spend a day in Forks, Washington, at her father's house before their trek to the 49th state. She should be able to find the wintry clothing that she needed in Port Angeles, a city near Forks. She could probably even find her wardrobe at a second hand store where it would be cheaper. After all, why spend a small fortune on clothing she wouldn't be able to use in her normal desert habitat.

What Bella did pack in her two nested suitcases were the few sweaters that she owned, a coat and all her other necessities that weren't weather-dependent. Those few things left tons of room for books: Austen; Bronte; Shakespeare - all the classics she could fit. Though her bag was heavy when she hefted it into her mother's car, she felt relief in the weight. All of her best friends for as long as she could remember were tucked away safely in that luggage.

The flight from Phoenix to Seattle was uneventful, and she was glad to be able to stretch her legs when her trip was complete. As she came out of the secure area of the airport, she could see Charlie's smiling face. She walked up to him and they shared a quick, awkward hug and peck on the cheek. They waited for her suitcases at the baggage carousel. "There it is, Dad! The one with the blue strap around it." Charlie hoisted it off the meandering metal river. Bella almost laughed out loud when Charlie's face turned beet red and the veins in his forehead and neck popped out, straining at his skin. She forgot to let him know how heavy it was. "Geez, Bells, what's in here, bodies?"

Baggage in tow, they were off to Forks and Charlie's small house. Bella told him of her need to shop for clothing that afternoon. Charlie nodded, "O.K., just wait 'til I hear the score of the Mariner's game… We'll have to drive over to Port Angeles, too." Bella was not looking forward to either riding around in the police cruiser all afternoon or her shopping excursion, and was desperately hoping that the whole thing would be over quickly.

To her amazement, Bella found the shopping was easy. There was plenty of inexpensive winter clothing available. She was able to get everything she needed at just the first three stores she entered. Although none of the clothing was much to look at, she didn't care. She was going to be alone in the woods with her father – it didn't matter if her sweater was striped the most hideous combination of colors ever put together, her pants had to be belted to stay up and her jacket had a stain on it. She was going to toss the clothes into the donation bin in front of the neighborhood church when they returned to Forks, anyways. Bella chuckled to herself when she came to the conclusion that the clothes might make their ways back to the stores where she purchased them.

When they returned to the house at dusk, Charlie began loading his car with all the fishing gear he owned. Bella asked, "Dad, do you need any help?" He replied with, "No thanks, Bella, I've almost got it finished here." While walking to the front door, Bella pointed at the bags in her hand and said, "In that case, I am going to wash these and pack." Charlie suddenly felt like he had to use some of his parenting skills and blurted out, "I'll be inside in just a few minutes and we can order some pizza for dinner, O.K.?"

Bella headed into the laundry room and began washing her 'new' clothing. By the end of the evening, both of her suitcases were hauled downstairs and into Charlie's cruiser. Both Charlie and Bella turned-in early since they needed to wake up well before dawn to catch their flight.

Bella didn't sleep very soundly that night. She was not looking forward to this trip. Ever since she had become a 'woman', staying in Charlie's one-bathroom house had become uncomfortable. Now, Bella was off to stay at a place that only had an outhouse… This certainly was going to test her patience with Charlie.

3:00 A.M. came suddenly. Bella rolled herself out of bed and threw on the clothes she had laid out the previous evening. She was still thinking there might be a way that she could get out of doing this. But when she finally entered the kitchen, Charlie stood smiling the biggest, crinkliest smile she had seen in years. He held up a new fishing pole with a giant bow on it. Behind Bella's strained smile, all her fabricated reasons for not going on this trip melted into a big glob of guilt on the linoleum floor.

Bella barely remembered the taxi ride to the airport, the flight to a lake near Kenai, Alaska, or the dinghy ride to the dock in front of their rented cabin. She wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep, or if the psychological ramifications of this torture had shut down her mind. Whichever way, there she was, standing in front of the tiny cabin she and her father would call home for the next 10 days. She silently wished her mental shutdown would return.

For the next few hours, she and Charlie familiarized themselves with the inside and outside of the cabin. They were given instructions on safety from the pilot of the float plane. They looked through maps and listened to the weather report as was advised. When they were done with the planning for the following day, Charlie looked at Bella and noticed that she seemed to be more content than she'd been since she de-boarded the plane in Seattle. He commented on it by saying, "This seems to be something that you enjoy, Bells… Have any of your school counselors or teachers suggested a career in logistics?"

They then spent the next hour talking about possible future plans for Bella. It made her a little uncomfortable. She never thought much about her future. She didn't buy into all the wonderful, classic stories she always read where just the right someone happened to stroll into the heroine's life at just the right time. Even so, she somehow thought (or maybe wished) that the perfect thing for her – whatever that was- would just appear some day out of nowhere just like it had in all those stories. Thinking about it was giving her a headache.

She began to yawn. It was almost 6:00 P.M. Since they had been up since 3:00 in the morning, and the cabin had no electricity, Bella decided to call it a day. "Dad," she said, "I'll keep the logistics thing in mind and talk to my counselor when school starts back up in the fall. Right now, though, I am more tired than I think I have ever been in my entire life! I am going to bed. See you in the morning." Charlie insisted that Bella stay in the one bedroom in the cabin while he would sleep on the pull-out couch. "Goodnight, Bella, and I'm setting the alarm for 4:00 A.M., so we'll be able to get out there and fish!" Bella mumbled quiet enough that Charlie couldn't hear. "Oh, joy of joys… It makes him happy. It makes him happy. It makes him happy."

Bella continued that chant while she changed into her sweats and hopped into bed. She used her book light to read a bit of Bronte before drifting off into an uncomfortable sleep. She woke somewhere in the middle of the night freezing cold. She added some more wood to the pot-bellied stove in the corner of her room and rifled through her suitcase for another pair of sweats, her wooly socks and her knit hat. She finally fell back to sleep after about a half-hour of violent shivering.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 1**

**Becoming Vampire**

**Chapter 2**

There was a quiet knock at her door. She heard her father shuffle a little, waiting for her to answer. "Bella?" She knew it was time to abandon the warmth of her bed for the cold reality of an Alaskan river filled with Salmon waiting to pass on their genetics then die. And if Charlie had his way, the fish would never be able to participate in the fun stuff…

Bella trudged out of bed, still cold even with all the clothing she was wearing. It seemed like every muscle in her body ached from all the shivering she'd done last night. She packed her backpack with a few of her books, some extra clothing and some of those little packets that outdoorsy-type people used to heat up their hands. She didn't know how well they worked, but anything was something. She sat down to a quick breakfast with Charlie. "Did you sleep alright, Bells?" She looked up at him and saw the twinkle in his eyes. She didn't have the heart to tell him about waking up in the middle of the night, colder than she'd ever been in her life. No, she was the parent in this relationship, too, and this was Charlie's Disneyland. Bella was not about to spoil his fun.

She replied, "Mmm, fine," as she huddled around her hot coffee mug and ate her bagel. Charlie, noticing her discomfort, said, "Sorry it's so cold in here – I didn't want to build a fire because we'll be leaving so soon." Bella just shrugged her shoulders and continued to ingest her liquid warmth. Now, if she could just figure out a way to submerge her entire body into the coffee cup…

Trying to change the subject, Charlie asked Bella if she was looking forward to her Senior year of high school. Bella took a few moments to decide which parts of this issue she wanted to discuss with him, then answered, "It's going to be just like any other year, I suspect." He dug a little deeper, which was completely out of character for him. "What about Senior Prom, and graduation, and SAT's and visiting colleges and..."

Bella interrupted him and pointed out, "Dad, I inherited your dancing genes – meaning that for me, the Prom is as dangerous as a lion is to a lamb. And probably just as deadly!" Bella paused and they both chuckled at the visual that was conjured up – Bella being the dancing lamb and the gym floor being the stalking lion. She shook off the idea and continued, "I took the S.A.T. a few months ago. I've researched colleges and have decided that I'd like to attend the University of Arizona. I've already sent in my application, so I won't need to check out any more schools unless I receive a rejection letter. As for graduation, I don't think I'm going to the ceremony."

Her father wasn't too startled by anything she'd said, except that last comment. Charlie was by nature a quiet, introverted man. Knowing that he, himself, disliked other people prying into his thoughts and affairs, he gave Bella the courtesy he considered polite and didn't question her further. Also, he knew his daughter was an intelligent, contemplative young woman and that she must have had good reasons for dismissing her graduation ceremony.

Bella had thought long and hard about going to the graduation ceremony before she came to the conclusion that she would not attend. She had even memorized the perfect reasons she invented, just incase someone (Renee) tried to argue the case. Bella needed to make sure that she emitted an aura of mature sensibility about her decision so that she would be able to debate her side intelligently. As a young adult, Bella had to prove that she knew what was in her own best interest.

In her mind, she quickly went over her reasons again. One could never be too well-prepared. First, she was quite shy. Being in the spotlight would be uncomfortable for her (even if it was for only a 20 second walk across the school auditorium's stage.) Bella cringed even thinking about it.

Second, Renee and Phil (Bella's step dad) would be traveling with Phil's AA baseball team at that time. No one would even be in the audience to watch her walk (more likely, stumble) across the stage for the diploma presentation, anyways. She couldn't image herself asking any of her classmates' parents to take a picture of her. She would feel like even more of a loser…

Third, Bella hadn't had a great high school experience - 'bland' would be her word of choice to describe it. And if the commencement ceremony was a way of saying, "Good-bye," she didn't need it. It seemed to her that she'd been saying her good-byes since the first day of Freshman year.

When Bella was done with her bagel and coffee, she excused her herself from Charlie. She walked into her tiny room and closed the door. Instead of changing from her 'pajamas' from the night before, she just layered on more clothing. She was hoping the extra insulation might eventually warm her enough so that her teeth would stop chattering. Bella was sure that if the forest of Alaska contained any Wood Peckers, they were all probably trying to find a way into the cabin thinking that an amorous female bird was pecking out a mating call. "Well," she thought with a defeated huff, "at least there are some males on this planet who find me desirable…"

As soon as Bella donned as many clothes as her small frame could carry, she waddled into the common area of the cabin. Charlie had pulled out all of the fishing equipment and was almost done giving it the 'once over.' When everything had been checked and rechecked, father and daughter loaded the quads that the owner's of the cabin had provided and drove off towards the river.

Even with her rubber waders and many layers of clothing, the freezing river water was defeating her body's ability to retain heat. Bella hoisted her white flag and surrendered. "Dad!" She yelled over the noise of the whitewater, "I'm going to get out for a while to warm up a bit…" Charlie just nodded as he cast his line again. Bella plodded to the shore. The pull of the currents and the rocky, uneven river bottom were testing the limits of her coordination. Bella was so cold already, she knew she couldn't even begin to fathom how much colder she'd be if she fell into the water. She called on every remaining ounce of strength and complete concentration to will herself to remain upright.

On the shore, Bella removed the waders and cuddled into her long, wool coat. She grabbed the backpack she had filled with her 'emergency' stash of books and looked around for a place to sit and read. She found a boulder off to the side that would serve as a decent bench. As Bella walked toward the rock and out of the sun's warming rays, she realized it wasn't a good idea. She looked around again, this time she looked only in the areas that were situated in the direct sunlight. Up the river a ways, Bella found exactly what she was looking for – a large boulder that wasn't shaded at all.

"Dad!" Bella tried to garner her father's attention again. After a few more shouts, Charlie realized she needed to speak with him. He walked closer to the shore so he could hear her better. "What's up, Sweetheart?" Bella pointed to the boulder and let him know that was where she'd be. Charlie shook his head and walked back to the spot he'd just vacated. Watching him momentarily, the vision of the kid at Disneyland came back to her.

Bella looked towards the boulder down river and tried to figure how she could hike there. She didn't want to walk in the river, even though that would be the quickest route. She also noticed that she couldn't follow the shore because there were a few places between her and the rock where trees or bushes blocked the way. There was, it seemed, a way to get there through the forest.

Bella realized that she needed to relieve herself, so the forest it was. Cursing all that damn coffee she drank while trying to warm up, she walked into the woods. Once a short distance into the forest, she slid behind a large tree and squatted.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, in a large, extravagant house just outside of Denali, Alaska:

A flustered man paced around one of the spacious bedrooms like a caged animal. He was glancing hatefully at the beautiful woman giving him instructions. "Try to think of something else," she provided.

"I can't," he raved, "I'm starving and that's all I can think about. It's all I WANT to think about!"

Try to make yourself want something else," she added pleadingly. He stopped pacing and glared at her. After a few tense seconds (which seemed torturously long to her), he screamed, "I don't want to, Irina! I. Am. Hungry. I want something delicious to eat. I won't settle for anything less. I can't handle any more venison. I can't handle the crap you've been making me eat!"

Irina flirtingly swaggered closer to him. While raising her arms to caress his shoulders, she offered him another solution. Irina spoke in a whispered, lusty voice, "Laurent, why don't you think about me then?" Just as her hands came in contact with his shirt, he growled loudly, pushed he to the ground and was gone from their room. Gone from their house. Gone from Denali. Just gone.

Irina didn't even have time to pick herself up off the floor when her two sisters bolted into the room. They both gasped when they saw Irina sprawled on the floor with the most devastated, most defeated look on her face. Irina sobbed, "Tanya, he's going hunting… And not for animals." For the second time in as many minutes, Tanya gasped. She looked at their other sister, Kate, and they silently acknowledged what needed to be done.

Kaye and Tanya hoisted Irina to her feet. They dragged her down the stairs and out the front door of the house. Tanya sniffed the air and began running, guiding her sister in the direction she knew Laurent had run.

After a very short run, Laurent stopped and leaned up against the side of a very old and large tree next to a river. He had been in such a hunger-induced stupor that he did not know where he was. At that very moment, a delicious scent hit the back of his throat. Venom flooded his mouth. Blood. Human blood. He began drooling venom. He followed the scent down the river and spied a human who was fishing. Laurent chuckled as he thought about a food chain joke he once heard. "That's right," he thought, "hunt for your food… But you won't be around to eat it because I'm hunting for my food, too…" Laurent realized that this was the first time he'd smiled in weeks. This insight made him realize he was not, NOT, cut-out to be a vegetarian vampire.

Laurent quickly took stock of the situation, planning his attack. After going so long without human blood, he didn't even need this unsuspecting human to try to put up a fight. Laurent just needed to taste his blood – period. Just as he was ready to act upon his instinct, another scent flooded his nostrils. This smell was far sweeter and had him salivating even more.

Quickly, he changed his plans and veered his path into the forest and towards that heavenly smell. With his heightened perceptions, this hunter knew that the person was about fifty yards to his right. At that moment, a young woman stepped out from behind a tree.

In a flash that did not even register in the slow human's mind, Laurent was on top of her with his teeth on her throat, his hand over her mouth. Bella didn't even have time to blink. Laurent felt that even though he didn't subscribe to the three sisters' mores about humans as food, they did have an affect on his basic character. He was trying to be as hasty as possible. He was trying to be merciful with this one. He quickly became irritated with himself because his thoughts of Irina explaining how wrong it was to eat humans distracted him from fully enjoying his first truly delicious meal in months.

Before Laurent even began to feel satiated, Tanya, Kate and Irina jumped him. Kate and Irina pulled Laurent back and arrested his movements, using their hands, arms and legs as cuffs. Tanya threw the nearly lifeless human girl over her shoulder. She ran as fast as she could. As soon as Tanya deemed herself and her 'passenger' sufficiently removed from the feeding frenzy scene, she stopped and gently placed the girl on the ground.

Tanya was not a doctor, but she knew the human was still alive. She saw the chest rise and fall – though the breathing was shallow and labored. She could hear the heartbeat, growing fainter with each passing second.

The vampire sister had a decision to make. In an instant, she considered at least one hundred different scenarios, their consequences and their costs (to both her and Laurent's victim.) In the end, the knowledge that she and her sisters were indirectly responsible for this fragile, young woman's current situation limited her options down to only one.

Tanya bent down over the girl's limp body…


End file.
